Message from Fr. Ciprian Sas
Dear Reader, Glory be to Jesus Christ! Glory be forever! For this year’s Clergy-Laity Assembly I was blessed by our Metropolis Hierarchs to lead one of the four workshops of the Assembly. The title of the workshop assigned to me was: The Thriving Small Parish: Moving from Surviving to Thriving. Naturally, I was honored to receive this opportunity, as any priest would. I also thought long and hard about how to develop this topic. One thing I felt I knew for sure: this, like any other time, is not the right time to gloat. In fact, authentic Orthodox Christian teachings consitently emphasize the fact that there is NO proper time for any one person or group of people to gloat, boast, or seek praise for so called personal accomplishments. Glory and praise is to be given to the One to Whom it is due – God. Our own personal efforts to serve God through our involvement in the church is not, and most certainly should not be, perceived as chores or tasks that burden us. Rather, we should fulfill every good work whole-heartedly while guarding our mind in the process, that we remain pure in our intent until the work of the Lord is completed. We are naïve, at best, if we expect to serve God through ministries of the Church and not be tempted by the Devil in the process. Every church service, every personal prayer, every ministry of our churches, and every personal good deed torment the one who cannot rejoice in good things and he will undoubtedly stir his tail in every way, shape, and form so as to distort, whenever possible, every good thing we embark on. In his first Letter, the Apostle Peter cautions us about this very thing: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)Thus, a parish (big or small) thrives not BECAUSE it does well financially. I would go as far as to say that even the highest stewardship average (which our parish apparently had) is not necessarily indicative about whether our parish is truly barely surviving or striving. Before I am misunderstood, I first want to clarify that I believe from the core and depth of my heart that our parish really does currently benefit from God’s visible blessings, such as: relative financial stability, blessed demographics, great worship attendance, etc. and I personally feel blessed to be in the middle of this Parish Family, made up of an absolutely awesome group of believers who are connected on so many levels. Together we strive to thrive, but not only financially – We strive to thrive as the Body of Christ with Him as the Head (Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 1:22, Ephesians 5:23). Together and individually, we must consciously and consistently make efforts to distance ourselves as much as possible from being just a bunch of people who get together on Sunday mornings and select church functions by momentum, enjoying the fellowship of it all and riding emotional highs whenever we are praised for doing something good. To thrive as the “Body of Christ”, a Parish Family must first do well in all three aspects of Parish LIFE: 1. Worship and Prayer 2. Education and Evangelism 3. Ministries and Outreach A Parish Family is barely surviving or visibly struggling not only when its finances are hard-pressed. It can actually cease to exist as the “Body of Christ” when it loses focus and it becomes ineffective and inefficient at the above three aspects of Parish Life “in Spirit and in Truth” – and this can happen while its finances are in-tact, while its building facilities are beautiful, while its festivals are booming, etc. I am not saying that Financial Stability is unimportant; the opposite is true as we all know, but since it is only a means to an end, it cannot and should not be our primary focus and certainly not our only criteria for evaluation. Our ability to become and remain productive at all three aspects of Parish Life depends largely on the quality of our interactions with one another and the ones we serve. Thus, my next article will focus solely on managing and improving the Quality of Our Interactions in an attempt to Maximize Parish Family Potential and the realization of God’s work through Church Life. In Christ,Rev. Fr. Ciprian Sas |
